Yes. For most people, tax day is the 17th (it's always the 15th, or the next business day if the 15th isn't on a business day). If you live in NY - or any other state which uses the Ma (I think) service center, you have until the 18th (the 17th is a state holiday). Don't know if the double points carries to the 18th however.

Actually, as someone pointed out somewhere back in this thread, technically you'd get 10,125 Starpoints for your $124.50 convenience payment, or about 1.23 cents per point rather than 1.245 cents. :D

Supposedly redemption for rooms is first come, first served. If there is any "slack" cut, it would more likely be for a SPG Platinum or higher than for an SPG Gold.

According to the SPG website, the double points offer is good only through April 17, 2006.

The April 18 due date applies to individual taxpayers who live in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, or the District of Columbia. Here is the link:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/...156216,00.html

Up until the (...), that's in full agreement with what I said.

The 80 cents comment was in a different thread, in response to a different post, on a completely different topic, and has nothing to do with the answer quoted.

Efrem posted "(a) you can often get them less expensively if you have enough time to accumulate the ones you need,"

I was pointing out that regardless of other opportunities to get points cheaper, unless you could accumulate an infinite amount through this other opportunity, this was still a chance to get points at below their value. The other opportunity shouldn't influence the decision to take advantage of this.


I think you'll find near unanimous agreement that this is why SPG wins the Freddie Award for hotel programs every year. The accumulation rate is a bit lower than others, but the ability to redeem when you want, where you want, puts is head and shoulders above. Status doesn't impact the "if a standard room is available to sell, it can be redeemed for points" policy - anyone can do it.

Thanks! I was wondering what Moscow's airport had to do with it... :D

To be super "technical," I think you'd get 10,124 Starpoints (or MP miles with a UA Visa card), since you would fall 50 cents short of getting that last point. (Hey, 50 cents bought some people free tickets to great places like Rome on US with their new Visa promo. And my wife was the "third party beneficiary" of just such a deal.)


Supposedly redemption for rooms is first come, first served. If there is any "slack" cut, it would more likely be for a SPG Platinum or higher than for an SPG Gold.[/QUOTE]
Aren't rooms and seats generally "first come, first served" in the sense that they try not to hold these "perishables" in inventory? I wanted to know if Starwood offered rooms only from a special set aside inventory, like the airlines do with "saver" awards, and I was told not, that if they have a "standard" room they will let it go for points as readily as they will for $s.

As for SPG Gold, again I am uninformed about what it gets one, but you make it sound like it is fairly puny in the status scheme. Is that the case?

That is because the IRS processing center for those states is in MA, and 4/17 (today) is Patriots Day in MA, when they run the Boston Marathon each year? I can get an extra day of float on my money?

Regarding the SPG program, I know this has been covered dozens of times, but they really do have a decent edge over most other travel programs in terms of available. Their marketing of this fact does chap a few FT'ers - no program on planet earth truly has no blackouts, no capacity controls, 365 days a year, anywhere on planet earth, in all room-demand scenarios. Properties in all of the chains can game the system to keep rooms off the boards during peak demand, but they do seem to do it less in SPG.

This week, I'm doing 5 nights at Westin PVR for 28,000 points. In a world without hotel points, it's fairly safe to say I would have spent $175-200/nt. all in for a decent room in that market at this time. I wouldn't have gambled on a random fleabag or on Priceline (if it's even applicable) in that market. So, 3 to 4 cents per point in this case, passing the general smell test for how I value my SPG points. (The Westin itself wants $317 plus tax per nt. for the same room, although that's not really relevant.) The Starpoints I'm using this week were acquired within the past year (via Amex). On average, the lifespan of each point was 6-9 months.

So like I mentioned a long time ago in one of these threads, I wouldn't go out of my way by doing something unusual with my taxes to earn these points, but since I do owe The Man about six grand, I went ahead and did it. It cost me a little over 1.33 cents per point. (Yes, I just ran the whole amount on SPG Amex, paying the higher vigorish on the last $1000 or so. I didn't feel like messing with a 2nd card.)

Yes, you get an extra day's float this year, thanks to Patriot's Day. And yes, that's race day - every year. Looks like they finally have some nice cool weather for it. Should be a fast Boston - perhaps with an American at the front. :)

As I just found at the Scandic, a nice mattress (as I would be able to do at a Westin) makes a big difference in how well I can sleep. I'll take my ever-dependable Heavenly Bed with Starpoints over a family-run hotel and get plenty of local culture during the day.

Just reflecting on this - Patriot's Day is a state holiday, and the IRS is of course a federal operation. Don't they deliver mail in MA today? (Again, it's another day of float for some this year. And while I don't know whose on top in the world of marathoning, I wonder if Americans have much of a chance against some of those countries that produce the perennial champs, e.g., Kenya, Ethiopa, etc.)

Well, there are two Yanks in Hopkinton today who are at least capable of running in the lead pack - Alan Culpepper and Meb Keflezighi. Odds-on favorite is probably Haile, the great Ethiopian, with a few Kenyans in the mix too. It'll be fun to see if Alan and Meb can hang in there. I'm not near a TV, so I'll just have to click "refresh" about a thousand times at www.baa.org. :)

A bit off topic for tax payment bonus miles, but Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won the men's race in 2:07:14, a course record by one second. He had been under the record pace by as much as 2+ minutes around the middle of the course but slowed a bit, relative to record pace, after that. Another Kenyan, Benjamin Maiyo, was second. U.S. runners took 3rd, 4th and 5th, the best showing for Yank men in years. A third Kenyan, Rita Jeptoo, won the women's race in 2:23:38.

For those who want to continue the Marathon discussion, it's in this thread in Omni. (Apologies to the non-Omni-enabled.)

I had been under the impression that Starwood usually rounded off to the nearest dollar in awarding Starpoints, but I may be mistaken. If I am, then you're right, only 10,124 Starpoints.

Essentially correct. What I was trying to say was that they do not (as some programs do) have a "special additional inventory" for elites, or allow elites to redeem awards where "normal folks" couldn't.

Starwood has a number of "tiers" in their program. You can find more detail over on the Starwood forum, but being Gold offers little more benefit than you'd get just from holding a Starwood AMEX card -- I think it's just the additional Starpoint per dollar spent at a Starwood property, although there may be something else as well. It is not like the Gold level in Hilton, for instance, that gives you true upgrades, or Gold in Marriott that gets you breakfasts, access to Concierge floors or Club rooms, etc.

It's at the Platinum (25 stays or 50 nights in a year) level that the major benefits start, in my experience. That may vary depending on the property, though; I've had exceptional treatment as a Gold at some properties, and only passable treatment at others as a Platinum.

Yes, mail is delivered in MA. The Federal Government does not recognize statewide holidays except for the due date rule under Internal Revenue Code section 7503, and that applies only to IRS offices located in the state with the holiday.